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The Cyclops Goblet
'[B]lack comedy doesn't come blacker . . . This is Gothic diablerie with a smile - a very nasty smile, as though a Charles Addams character had escaped from his picture and perpetrated an elaborate practical joke in prose.' - The Guardian
'[A] semi-surrealist, pseudo-Gothic adventure . . . Read on if you can; I could.' - The Observer
'John Blackburn is deservedly well established as a . . . thriller writer. The Cyclops Goblet, his twenty-third, shows no falling off: it is admirably assured, and as admirably exciting.' - British Book News
Bill Easter and his common law wife Peggy Tey, two small-time crooks down on their luck, have been hired to help steal the legendary treasure of Renaissance goldsmith Guido Calamai. Calamai's masterpiece, the Cyclops Goblet, rumoured to possess the power to kill whoever drinks from it, is under lock and key at the Danemere Museum, the gift of the rich and eccentric millionaire Sir Thomas Moscow. But when the goblet is discovered to be a fake, Bill and Peggy must locate the real treasure, and to find it, they'll need to break Sir Thomas's daughter, a murderous madwoman, out of an asylum. From there, the trail leads to a remote Scottish island contaminated with anthrax, where the treasure - and the shocking truth behind its deadly power - is hidden. Unprepared for the horror they will uncover, will Bill and Peggy survive to enjoy their big payday, or will they become the next victims of the Cyclops Goblet?
John Blackburn (1923-1993) was regarded as the best British horror writer of his time, but in The Cyclops Goblet (1977), he shows a different side, infusing a thrilling heist story with elements of horror and dark humour. This first-ever republication of the novel includes a new introduction by Greg Gbur.
'[A] semi-surrealist, pseudo-Gothic adventure . . . Read on if you can; I could.' - The Observer
'John Blackburn is deservedly well established as a . . . thriller writer. The Cyclops Goblet, his twenty-third, shows no falling off: it is admirably assured, and as admirably exciting.' - British Book News
Bill Easter and his common law wife Peggy Tey, two small-time crooks down on their luck, have been hired to help steal the legendary treasure of Renaissance goldsmith Guido Calamai. Calamai's masterpiece, the Cyclops Goblet, rumoured to possess the power to kill whoever drinks from it, is under lock and key at the Danemere Museum, the gift of the rich and eccentric millionaire Sir Thomas Moscow. But when the goblet is discovered to be a fake, Bill and Peggy must locate the real treasure, and to find it, they'll need to break Sir Thomas's daughter, a murderous madwoman, out of an asylum. From there, the trail leads to a remote Scottish island contaminated with anthrax, where the treasure - and the shocking truth behind its deadly power - is hidden. Unprepared for the horror they will uncover, will Bill and Peggy survive to enjoy their big payday, or will they become the next victims of the Cyclops Goblet?
John Blackburn (1923-1993) was regarded as the best British horror writer of his time, but in The Cyclops Goblet (1977), he shows a different side, infusing a thrilling heist story with elements of horror and dark humour. This first-ever republication of the novel includes a new introduction by Greg Gbur.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
John Blackburn
35 books35 followersJohn Blackburn was born in 1923 in the village of Corbridge, England, the second son of a clergyman. Blackburn attended Haileybury College near London beginning in 1937, but his education was interrupted by the onset of World War II; the shadow of the war, and that of Nazi Germany, would later play a role in many of his works. He served as a radio officer during the war in the Mercantile Marine from 1942 to 1945, and resumed his education afterwards at Durham University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1949. Blackburn taught for several years after that, first in London and then in Berlin, and married Joan Mary Clift in 1950. Returning to London in 1952, he took over the management of Red Lion Books.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 22, 2016
Another new Valancourt Books edition of a classic John Blackburn book has been released, and it includes another masterful* introduction by me! This time, the book is John Blackburn’s 1977 novel The Cyclops Goblet.
John Blackburn (1923-1993) was a prolific author of books containing a unique blend of thriller, science fiction and horror, producing some 25 novels over the course of his career (I talk about a number of them on this blog). His work was also extremely popular in his time, but was sadly almost completely forgotten after his death — until Valancourt started reprinting his books over the past year.
The Cyclops Goblet marks an interesting departure from Blackburn’s usual fare. It can be considered a classic “caper” story, in which a series of crooks attempt to pull off a spectacular heist — and try to double-cross each other in the process!
Read the whole thing.
John Blackburn (1923-1993) was a prolific author of books containing a unique blend of thriller, science fiction and horror, producing some 25 novels over the course of his career (I talk about a number of them on this blog). His work was also extremely popular in his time, but was sadly almost completely forgotten after his death — until Valancourt started reprinting his books over the past year.
The Cyclops Goblet marks an interesting departure from Blackburn’s usual fare. It can be considered a classic “caper” story, in which a series of crooks attempt to pull off a spectacular heist — and try to double-cross each other in the process!
Read the whole thing.
December 9, 2020
Blackburn's powers were waning by the late 70s. The first-person narrator of this caper is supposed to be a public school & Oxford drop-out turned amateur crook, but we barely get any characterisation to fill out that idea. It comes in handy in the end that he can remember enough Greek from his Classics period to decipher an obscure clue. Other than that, we're rushing around the usual Blackburnia of secret chemical weapons research and weird nihilist scientists devoted to it for shits & giggles, sinister conspiracies, cranky loners with too much time to devise elaborate and pointless deceptions, and above all a whiff of decay about dear old Blighty, as everywhere's just a bit too tatty and run down and some deplorables are setting off terrorist bombs, though even that detail can't hold the author's concentration for too long.
May 1, 2017
A quick, witty books with a few interesting twists. Perhaps a bit dated, but fun nonetheless.
As caper/heist books go this is worth a read.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.
As caper/heist books go this is worth a read.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews